| Virginia, Williamsburg — Battle of Williamsburg — The Bloody Ravine — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | A critical part of the Battle of Williamsburg took place here on May 5, 1862. Union troops occupied the ridge to your right across present-day U.S. Route 60. The Confederate line of redoubts stood to your left on the ridge to the west. Felled timber on the ridge created clear fields of fire for the Confederates, and the intertwined branches (called abatis) obstructed the Federal attack. The railroad did not then exist, and this area was heavily wooded. The battle began when Union Gen. George . . . — Map (db m10368) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — Battle of Williamsburg — Emory’s Failed Advance — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | As the May 5, 1862, Battle of Williamsburg raged along the Bloody Ravine and in front of Fort Magruder, the Union commander sought to turn the flank of the Confederate defenses. Gen. Joseph Hooker was convinced that the right flank was unoccupied and sent an engineer officer, Lt. Miles D. McAlester, to scout the Confederate position. McAlester reached Quarterpath Road near Allen’s Wharf and discovered that Redoubt 1 here at Tutter’s Mill Pond indeed appeared empty. He also reported that . . . — Map (db m10529) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — Charlton's Coffeehouse |
| | Constructed as a store and residence in 1750, the building was converted into a coffeehouse and operated by Richard Charlton in the mid 1760s. In October 1765, the coffeehouse was the scene of resistance to the British Parliament's Stamp Act. — Map (db m60299) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — College Camp — 1775-1781 |
| | On this site in September 1775 Colonel Patrick Henry established camp grounds for Virginia troops who were to rendezvous and train at Williamsburg. Several Virginia regiments left here in 1776 and 1777 to join General George Washington’s army in the north. In 1777 students formed a college company with the President, Rev. James Madison, as captain. Troops camped here before the Battle of Yorktown in 1781.
Presented by the Society of Alumni – 1976 — Map (db m18179) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — Defending the Peninsula — Avenue of Attack — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | When Virginia seceded on April 17, 1861, Union and Confederate leaders alike saw the Peninsula as an avenue of attack against Richmond. Federal ships on the James and York rivers could guard an army’s flanks and escort supply vessels upstream. Fort Monroe, on Old Point Comfort overlooking lower Chesapeake Bay and Hampton Roads, could serve as a Union base. Late in April, Lt. Col. Benjamin S. Ewell, an 1832 West Point graduate and former president of the College of William and Mary, took . . . — Map (db m10498) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — W 40 — First Balloon Flight in Virginia |
| | On May 7, 1801, J. S. Watson, a student at William and Mary, wrote a letter detailing attempts at flying hot air balloons on the Court House Green. The third balloon, decorated with sixteen stars, one for each of the existing states, and fueled with spirits of wine, was successful. Watson wrote, "I never saw so great and so universal delight as it gave to the spectators." This is the earliest recorded evidence of aeronautics in the Commonwealth. — Map (db m16852) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — Fort Magruder — An Ugly Place to Have to Attack — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | Here are the remains of Fort Magruder, an earthen redoubt built in 1861 at the center of the Confederate defensive line. The “Williamsburg Line” stretched between the James and York rivers and consisted of fourteen forts, commonly called redoubts. This was the third Confederate defensive line encountered by Federal troops under Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan during the Peninsula Campaign in the spring of 1862. Fort Magruder was the heart of the Confederate position during the Battle . . . — Map (db m10371) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — Fort Magruder |
| | This large redoubt was the center of a defensive line crossing the Peninsula. These earthworks, constructed by the command of General John B. Magruder, were a part of the system of fortifications designed to protect Richmond. Here on May 5, 1862. The Battle of Williamsburg delayed the advance of the Federal Army and made possible the continued defense of Richmond. This site preserved by The United Daughters of the Confederacy This marker erected by the citizens of Williamsburg on the . . . — Map (db m10572) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — George Wythe House and Gardens |
| | This mid-eighteenth century building was the home of George Wythe, tutor and friend of Jefferson. Wythe was the first professor of law at an American college, and first Virginian signer of the Declaration of Independence. Washington used the house as his headquarters in 1781 before the siege of Yorktown. Five major outbuildings and garden plan reflect a plantation layout. Furnishings are in the manner of a well-to-do eighteenth-century Virginia household. — Map (db m60248) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — Great Neck |
| | When Richard Brewster, gentleman, patented some 500 acres in this area on February 6, 1637 it was described as "the great Neck alias the barren neck". Cleared land then, the forest has since grown back. — Map (db m25816) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — W 229 — Indian School at the College of William & Mary |
| | Using funds from the estate of British scientist Robert Boyle, the College of William & Mary established a school to educate young Indian men in 1697, just four years after the college’s founding. To encourage enrollment, in 1711 Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood began remitting tributes for area tribes who sent students. Students from tribes outside Virginia also enrolled. The Brafferton was constructed in 1723 to house the school, which provided education in reading and writing English, arithmetic . . . — Map (db m18164) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — James Anderson's Armoury |
| | James Anderson, Blacksmith and Public Armourer, conducted his business on this site between 1770 and 1798. During the Revolutionary War, the Armoury employed as many as forty workmen -- blacksmiths, gunsmiths, tinsmiths, nailers, and gunstockers -- maintaining arms and equipment for Virginia and Continental forces. — Map (db m60415) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — W-48 — Littletown |
| | In the second quarter of the 17th-century, merchant George Menefie developed a 1,200-acre plantation just east of here he called Littletown. In March 1633, Dutch trader David DeVies observed that his two-acre garden was "full of Provence roses, apple, pear and cherry trees,... with different kinds of sweet-smelling herbs, such as rosemary, sage, marjoram, thyme." Richard Kemp later acquired the tract and called it Rich Neck. Rich Neck was home to three generations of the Ludwell family and . . . — Map (db m9505) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — Mill Dam |
| | The mound of earth in front of you was probably part of the dam for William Parks' paper mill. His mill was the first in Virginia for making paper and operated six years or more beginning 1744. Parks established the first permanent press in Virginia at Williamsburg. His paper mill supplied other printers, too, including Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia. — Map (db m25813) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — Norborne Berkeley, Baron de Botetourt — Governor of the Colony of Virginia 1768-1770 |
| | Respected Friend of the Students and Faculty of the College
Gordon S. Kray "73, Sculptor
This statue, a re-creation of the original marble by Richard Haward (1728-1800) that stood here from 1801 until 1958, was given to the College of William and Mary by thoughtful alumni on the occasion of the 300th anniversary.
Dedicated October 23, 1993 — Map (db m62563) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — Pasteur & Galt Apothecary Shop |
| | William Pasteur and John Minson Galt traveled to England to study medicine before returning to Williamsburg to practice. They were partners in this apothecary shop from 1775 to 1778. In addition to dispensing drugs, they provided surgical, midwifery and general medical services. — Map (db m60297) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — Peyton Randolph House |
| | For more than fifty years this was the home of Peyton Randolph (1721-1775), who served the Colony of Virginia in many of its highest governmental offices and became the first president of the Continental Congress. His father, Sir John Randolph, the only colonial Virginian to be knighted, live here until his death in 1737. The original house is unusual for its seven fully paneled rooms. The furnishings reflect the home of a family prominent in the social and political life of the colony. — Map (db m60247) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — Quarterpath Road — Historic Avenue — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | On the other side of the parapet is Quarterpath Road, a historic roadbed that for centuries linked Williamsburg to Allen’s Wharf on the James River. It runs behind the Confederate fortifications here, gaining additional importance during the Battle of Williamsburg. Confederate Gen. John B. Magruder intended to use the Williamsburg Line if forced to abandon the Warwick-Yorktown Line. When Gen. Joseph E. Johnston assumed command of the Confederate forces blocking Union Gen. George B. McClellan’s . . . — Map (db m10532) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — Redoubt 1 — Engineers Debate the Williamsburg Line — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | Because Lt. Col. Benjamin S. Ewell had made little progress on the Williamsburg defenses by late June 1861, Gen. John B. Magruder, commanding the Army of the Peninsula, replaced him with Gen. Lafayette McLaws. Capt. Alfred L. Rives, acting chief of the Engineer Bureau in Richmond and an 1848 graduate of Virginia Military Institute, disliked Ewell’s concept of a defense based on interlocking redoubts (detached fortifications linked by rifle pits) but gave in. He later wrote that when . . . — Map (db m10534) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — Redoubt 12 — Hancock the Superb — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | You are near the northern end of the Confederate defensive line built in 1861 to protect the eastern approach to Richmond. The “Williamsburg Line” stretched between the James and York rivers and consisted of fourteen forts, commonly called redoubts. This was the third Confederate line encountered by Federal troops under Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan during the Peninsula Campaign. The road entering the park is part of the original Queen’s Creek Road. Four redoubts were built along . . . — Map (db m10373) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — Site of First Baptist Church |
| | In the last quarter of the eighteenth century, two black preachers, first Moses, then Gowan Pamphlet, began holding religious services out of doors for free blacks and slaves in the Williamsburg area. Although identified as an organized Baptist church by 1781, the earliest in Williamsburg, reluctance to recognize an all black congregation postponed its official acceptance by the regional Baptist association until 1793. By 1818, and perhaps earlier, the “African Church”, as it was . . . — Map (db m55352) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — Site of the First Theatre |
| | William Levingston, merchant of New Kent County, built the first theatre in English America on this site c. 1716. For three decades companies of actors entertained audiences at the "Play House" with latest successes from the London Stage. In 1745 the City of Williamsburg converted the frame structure into a municipal hall. The building was razed c. 1770 after construction of the Courthouse on Market Square. — Map (db m60249) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — The Capitol |
| | The historic site was the seat of Virginia's colonial government for 75 years. Here in May, 1765, Patrick Henry denounced the Stamp Act and on May 15, 1776, a Virginia Convention unanimously proposed that the Continental Congress "declare the United Colonies free and independent states." On June 12, 1776, a Virginia Convention approved George Mason's Declaration of Rights and on June 29 adopted the first constitution for the new Commonwealth of Virginia. — Map (db m60412) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — The College of William and Mary in Virginia |
| | A charter was granted by King William and Queen Mary in 1693, by fostering “good arts and sciences,” and by educating the youth in “good letters and manners,” the College has maintained its original mission as “a place of universal study.”
The college was transferred to the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1906.
The main structure, now called the Wren Building, erected in 1695, burned in 1705, was rebuilt in 1716 on the original foundation. After several . . . — Map (db m18165) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — The Governor's Palace & Gardens |
| | The Governor's Palace was the home of five Royal Lieutenant-Governors, two Royal Governors, and the first two Governors of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson. An act by Virginia's General Assembly in 1706 authorized the construction of a residence in Williamsburg for the Governor. The Palace, completed in 1722, was destroyed by a fire in 1781 while it was being used as a hospital for Americans wounded at the battle of Yorktown. The Palace was resconstructed on the . . . — Map (db m60245) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — The Magazine and Guardhouse |
| | Erected in 1715, the Magazine was colonial Virginia’s storehouse for guns, ammunition, and military supplies. The action of British Governor Dunmore on the night of April 20-21, 1775, in removing gunpowder belonging to the Colony, touched off the Revolution in Virginia before news of the Battle of Lexington reached Williamsburg. The reconstructed Guardhouse was originally built during the French and Indian War. A comprehensive collection of military equipment includes antique Brown Bess . . . — Map (db m61632) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — The Old Capitol |
| | Here Patrick Henry first kindled the flames of revolution by his resolutions and speech against the Stamp Act May 29-30, 1765.
Here, March 12, 1773, Dabney Carr offered and the convention of Virginia unanimously adopted the resolutions to appoint a committee to correspond with similar committees in the other colonies: the first step taken towards the union of the states.
Here, May 15, 1776, the convention of Virginia through resolutions, drafted by Edmund Pendleton, offered by Thomas . . . — Map (db m59791) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — The Palisades |
| | For protection against the Indians, the settlers built a log palisade across the narrows of the peninsula between the York and James rivers. This was about 1633. Middle Plantation (later Williamsburg) began as a settlement along this palisade which had its southern anchor where Paper Mill and College creeks join a half mile downstream. — Map (db m25817) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — The Public Hospital of 1773 — DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum |
| | In 1773, when Williamsburg's Public Hospital opened, it was the first facility in America dedicated solely to the care and treatment of the insane. The original building burned in 1885. Reconstructed by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in 1985, the Public Hospital houses an exhibit on the building's history and serves as the entrance to the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum, the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum including the Hennage Auditorium, Museum Store and Cafe. — Map (db m61309) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — The Raleigh Tavern |
| | During Public Times Virginia leaders often met at the Raleigh, Williamsburg's most popular inn. Here in 1769 a group of burgesses adopted the proposal of George Mason for a boycott of British goods. Five years later Burgesses again met in the Apollo Room to issue the call for the first Continental Congress. This reconstructed building is appointed with English and American furnishings in accordance with inventories of early innkeepers. — Map (db m60296) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — The Secretary's Office |
| | Officials decided to build the Secretary's Office in which to protect the public papers of the Virginia colony after a fire destroyed the first Capitol in 1747. Completed in 1748, the building was designed to be fireproof. This building also contained an office for the Secretary of the colony. — Map (db m60300) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — Washington – Rochambeau Route |
| | Generals Washington and Rochambeau and their staffs arrived in Williamsburg on September 14, 1781. Here they gathered their troops and supplies prior to laying siege to Cornwallis at Yorktown 12 miles away on September 28, 1781. The marking of this route is a gift from the French government. Committee of the Bicentennial 1776-1976. (Original sign destroyed in 2000, replaced by Department of Historic Resources, 2004) — Map (db m10123) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — Wetherburn's Tavern |
| | This original eighteenth-century building, expanded to its present size after 1751, housed one of the best known taverns in Williamsburg. It bears the name of its builder and first owner, Henry Wetherburn, who previously operated the Raleigh Tavern across the street. A distinguished clientele was attracted by the good food, drink, and festive social life. An inventory of Wetherburn's fine furnishings guided their replacement. The tavern has been restored to its appearance of about 1760. — Map (db m60414) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — Williamsburg Confederate Monument |
| | 1861 – 1865 To the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors of Williamsburg and James City County. Right of Monument:“Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget – lest we forget!” Left of Monument:Erected by the Daughters of the Confederacy and the Citizens of Williamsburg and James City County. — Map (db m10563) HM |
| Virginia, Williamsburg — Williamsburg in the Civil War — Gateway to Richmond — 1862 Peninsula Campaign |
| | Williamsburg, once the capital of Virginia, declined after the American Revolution. By 1861, although many colonial structures still lined the streets, the Governor’s Palace and former capitol building lay in ruins. The College of William and Mary had lost prestige. Roads were unpaved and rutted, while the population and commerce had dwindled. When the Civil War erupted, however, Williamsburg became strategically significant. Situated 12 miles west of Yorktown on a peninsula formed by the York . . . — Map (db m10493) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — A Campsite pre-1607 |
| | The human history of Jamestown Island begins much earlier than 1607. The first native inhabitants walked this site 10,000 years ago. At that time, the James River was nearly 100 feet lower, a fast moving stream at the bottom of a narrow ravine. Sea levels gradually rose, flooding the Jamestown site and creating a brackish marsh. Native hunting and fishing parties from nearby towns visited the island. Fire-cracked rock, native pottery sherds, oyster shell, stone tools, and projectile points . . . — Map (db m17269) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — A Diverse Jamestown Household 1620-1640 |
| | By 1624, William Peirce, a “beloved friend” of governor Francis Wyatt, built a house – “one of the fairest in Virginia” – on this lot. Peirce, captain of the governor’s guard and the colony’s cape merchant, also served as lieutenant governor, commander of Jamestown Island, and a member of the council. He participated in the “thrusting out” of Governor John Harvey from office in 1635. In addition to Peirce, the household included his wife . . . — Map (db m17356) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — A Famous African-American Dream |
| | The earliest African-American national radio and television minister and advisor of three American presidents, the Elder Lightfoot Solomon Michaux purchased the lands around you in 1936. His dream was to establish a farm and a national memorial to the progress of African-Americans in this country. The first African-Americans in British Colonial America landed in Virginia, possibly at Jamestown, in 1619. — Map (db m31084) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — A Jamestown Warehouse 1630s-1699 |
| | That at last Christmas we had trading here ten ships from London, two from Bristoll, twelve Hollanders, and seven from New-England. A Perfect Description of Virginia, 1649 Jamestown’s waterfront property was prime real estate. Governor Harvey wrote “that there was not one foote of ground for half a mile together by the Rivers side in James Towne but was taken up and undertaken to be built ….” As the colony’s official port of entry, Jamestown needed warehouses for imported . . . — Map (db m17203) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — A Place of Work |
| | This small structure played a part in the industrial activity along the Pitch and Tar Swamp, but the exact use of its three furnaces is unknown. Chemical analysis of the soil ruled out high-temperature industry, such as a forge. Perhaps the best clue came from Captain John Smith, who noted two “brew-houses” in Jamestown in 1629. Artifacts from the site dated from about 1620 to 1650, and included pieces of copper kettle, pipes, and a cistern. Perhaps this was the source of some . . . — Map (db m17217) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — A Remarkable Collection 1670-1700 |
| | Who discarded refuse into this ditch and why may never be known. The ditch was full or artifacts dating to about 1670-1700, including 10 “HH” wine bottle seals, over 1,000 clay pipe pieces, three window leads dated 1669, and the largest collection of English Sgraffito slipware pottery from North Devon ever discovered. There were nine intact dishes, complete pans and bowls. The most impressive find from this location was an entire earthenware baking oven shattered into over 220 . . . — Map (db m17311) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — An Upper-Class Neighborhood 1630s-1699 |
| | From the 1630s to the end of the 17th century, this area along Backstreete boasted some of the finest dwellings in Jamestown. Governors, councilmen, burgesses, and lawyers all made this neighborhood home. Richard Kemp, an ardent supporter of Governor Harvey, secretary to the colony, and councilman, built Virginia’s first all-brick house here in 1638-39. Walter Chiles, a merchant and burgess, purchased the “Brick house formerly Mr Secry Kemps” in 1649 and lived here with his . . . — Map (db m17357) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Archers Hope |
| | The great Indian massacre of March 22, 1622, during which a quarter of the population of Virginia was slain came nearest to Jamestown here in a community known as Archer's Hope. At the house of Ensign William Spence five persons were killed-- John Fowler, William Richmond, Alexander Bale, William Fairfax, and "the Tinker." — Map (db m31085) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — At Jamestown Began: — 1607 – 1957 |
| | At Jamestown began: the Expansion overseas of the English speaking peoples; the Commonwealth of Virginia; the United States of America; the British Commonwealth of Nations — Map (db m17006) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Attempted Settlement |
| | A small group of Spanish Jesuits attempted a settlement in Virginia in September, 1570. They are said to have entered James river and landed along this creek and crossed the peninsula to establish a mission near York River. Six months later all were massacred by the Indians save for one young boy. He was rescued by a relief expedition in 1572. — Map (db m30732) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Backstreet – Jamestown’s Main Street 1620-1699 |
| | As Jamestown expanded beyond the fort, the Virginia Company sent William Claiborne to survey lots in New Towne. There Ralph Hamor patented an acre and a half lot in 1624. Hamor’s deed made it clear that at least three streets already existed – “Backstreete,” “the highway along the river,” and a connecting street. His neighbors along Backstreete included William Peirce, Dr. John Pott, Governor Sir Francis Wyatt, and future governor John Harvey. Backstreete . . . — Map (db m17115) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — V-39 — Battle Of Green Spring |
| | Nearby, late in the afternoon of 6 Julyl 1781, Gen. Charles Cornwallis and cavalry commander Col. Banastre Tarleton with 5,000 British and Hessian troops clashed with 800 American troops commanded by Brig. Gen. “Mad” Anthony Wayne and the Marquis de Lafayette. Believing that the main British force was across the James River, and that he was attacking Cornwallis’s rear guard. Wayne soon realized that he was facing far superior numbers. He startled the advancing British forces by . . . — Map (db m2440) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Battle of Green Spring — July 6, 1781 |
| | Hear the crack of flintlock muskets and smell the smoke from cannon fire! On this site, on July 6, 1781, 5,000 British troops under General Charles Cornwallis and Colonel Banastre Tarleton clashed with 900 American soldiers led by the Marquis de Lafayette and Brigadier General “Mad” Anthony Wayne.
Following a campaign in the Carolinas and central Virginia, Cornwallis encamped nearby. He planned to cross the James River and head toward Portsmouth in order to send . . . — Map (db m30651) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — W 43 — Battle of Williamsburg |
| | To the east of the road here, centering at Fort Magruder, was fought the Battle of Williamsburg on May 5, 1862. The Union General McClellan was pursuing General Johnston’s retiring army, the rearguard of which was commanded by General Longstreet. Johnston ordered Longstreet to hold off McClellan’s attacking forces until the Confederate wagon trains, bogged down in mud, were out of danger. This mission was accomplished and Johnston continued his retirement. — Map (db m10120) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Captain John Smith |
| | John Smith was born about 1580 the son of a yeoman farmer of modest means. As a young man he traveled throughout Europe and fought as a soldier in the Netherlands and in Hungary. There he was captured, taken to Turkey and sold into slavery in Russia. He murdered his master, escaped and journeyed back to Hungary to collect a promised reward of money and a coat-of-arms. He returned to England in time to participate in the settlement of Virginia. He was an arrogant and boastful man, often . . . — Map (db m11367) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Captain John Smith |
| | Captain John Smith Governor of Virginia 1608 Back of Monument: Erected by The Association of the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities 1907 Lower Plaque: The gift of Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Bryan — Map (db m11368) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — W 50 — Carter's Grove |
| | During the 17th century Carter's Grove was part of the Martin's Hundred Plantation. In the early 1720's, Robert "King" Carter purchased it and later named the tract Carter's Grove. Between 1730 and 1735 Carter Burwell, grandson of Robert "King" Carter, built the Carter's Grove mansion, a famous example of colonial Virginia plantation architecture. Burwell hired brickmason David Minitree to make and lay brick; he brought Richard Bayliss, and English joiner, to Virginia to execute the interior . . . — Map (db m9503) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — V-46 — Church on the Main |
| | Less than one mile to the east is the site of the Church on the Main, a brick Anglican church built by the 1750s to serve James City Parish as replacement for the church on Jamestown Island, which had become difficult for communicants to reach. The Rev. James Madison(1749–1812) was its best-known rector, serving the church from about 1777 until it fell into disuse after the American Revolution and the disestablishment of the Anglican Church. Madison became president of the College of . . . — Map (db m2442) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — College Creek |
| | On May 12, 1607 the colonists who were the next day to establish Jamestown, landed at the mouth of this creek. Captain Gabriel Archer, one of the councilors, liked the spot and would have settled here but was outvoted. For more than a century the creek was known as Archer's hope and later was named for the College of William and Mary. — Map (db m30730) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Colonial Highway |
| | The James River was a lifeline. Ships from England brought tools, seeds, cloth, food, more settlers – and hope. The colonists sent back timber, tobacco, pitch, potash, furs, iron ore – and stories. By 1650, wharves reached out to the river channel. An iron weight of 1300 pounds, capable of driving piles for a pier, was found not far from here. — Map (db m17119) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Colonist on Neck of Land |
| | Early in the 17th century, colonists began settling beyond Jamestown Island. In 1619, for example, Reverend Richard Buck received a patent of land here at Neck of Land, between Mill and Powhatan creeks.
When Buck and his wife died, their mentally disabled son Benomi became a ward of Richard and Jane Kingsmill. According to the 1625 muster, the Kingsmills resided at Neck of Land with their two children and four servants including Edward, “a Negro.” When Elizabeth Buck, Benomi’s . . . — Map (db m31058) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Confederate Earthworks |
| | These earthworks were erected by Confederate troops in 1861 as part of the defense system to block Union penetration of the James River. — Map (db m17052) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Ditch and Mound |
| | Dozens of open ditches crisscrossed Jamestown. A ditch and its mound could mark a property boundary, line the edge of a road, or drain swampy soil. Ditches also served as handy trash dumps. Two major ditches, several feet wide and hundreds of feet long, intersected at this point. — Map (db m17316) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — W 40-b — Eastern State Hospital |
| | Eastern State Hospital is the oldest psychiatric hospital in the United States. It was established on 12 Oct. 1773, when Virginia was still a British colony, with the mission of treating and discharging the curable mentally ill. In 1841, under the leadership of John Minson Galt, the hospital initiated new reforms characterized as “moral management,” a self-directed form of rehabilitation that changed the social perception and treatment of mental illness in America. Beginning in 1935 . . . — Map (db m58354) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Efforts of a Virginia Tradesman 1670s |
| | The early English settlers came to Virginia looking for gold, silver, and precious gems, but never found them. Some of the artifacts they left behind, however, are highly valuable to the archaeologists who excavated Jamestown centuries later. One such artifact lay in the ruins of a structure built for Ann Talbott around 1660, and later owned by George Marable. The building had a floor paved with brick and a substantial seven by three foot hearth with connected oven. It may have been a . . . — Map (db m17204) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Efforts to Build a Town 1660-1699 |
| | The foundations of the multi-dwelling structure that stood here match the dimensions called for in legislation passed by the General Assembly in September 1662. This row rouse was standing by September 1668 when the justices of James City County asked permission to use “one of the Countrie Brick houses” as a prison. A man’s pelvis and left leg excavated from an abandoned well just north of “that house where the goale kept,” may be gruesome evidence of a . . . — Map (db m17320) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Fences and Livestock |
| | Jamestown had a large number of four-footed and feathered residents. A chronicler wrote of “two hundred … cattle, as many goats, infinite hogs in herds all over the woods.” The government required fences to keep the free-roaming livestock out of the edible harvest. — Map (db m17200) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — WT-1 — First Africans in English America |
| | The first documented Africans in English America arrived at Jamestown in August 1619. A dutch man-of-war captured them from the Spanish, who had enslaved them, and sold them to the Virginia colonists. The “twenty and odd” Africans, some of whom had been given Spanish names, may have been treated like indentured servants and later freed after their periods of servitude expired. From this beginning the institution of slavery evolved during the 17th century as the Virginia colonists . . . — Map (db m2444) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — WT-2 — First Germans at Jamestown |
| | The first Germans to land in Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in Virginia, arrived aboard the vessel Mary and Margaret about 1 October 1608. These Germans were glassmakers and carpenters. In 1620, German mineral specialists and saw-millwrights followed, to work and settle in the Virginia Colony. These pioneers and skilled craftsmen were the forerunners of the many millions of Germans who settled in America and became the single largest national group to populate the United States. — Map (db m2445) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Foundations at Jamestown |
| | The remains of Jamestown now lie buried beneath the ground. Archeologists have unearthed some of the known town site, but the original foundations of structures would erode quickly if left exposed to wind, weather, and acid rain. The foundations have been reburied. The bricks you see here today are modern reproductions of the original foundations underneath. — Map (db m17220) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Gardens and Crops |
| | Tobacco, sassafras – the Jamestown gardener was distracted by quick-money crops for export to Europe. Tobacco was even grown in the streets. In 1624 the General Assembly tried to aid the struggling silk and wine industries by ordering each plot owner to plant four mulberry trees for silk, and 20 vines for wine. — Map (db m17317) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Glebe Land |
| | After 1619 these 100 acres of land were set aside for the benefit of the Jamestown parish church and minister. Richard Buck was the first clergyman to have use of it. Later on Francis Bolton became minister at "James Citty" and he, too, had "leave to make a lease of the Glebe land neere unto Archers Hope." — Map (db m31079) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Governor Harvey’s House 1630s |
| | John Harvey served as a member of a royal commission investigating conditions in Virginia in 1624. As a reward, he received land at the east end of New Towne. There he probably built a residence and a wharf. A temperamental sea captain, Harvey was twice charged for beating others – a servant for demanding his freedom and Richard Stephens, a councilman and frequent Harvey opponent. When newly knighted Sir John Harvey returned as the new governor of Virginia in 1630, he acquired . . . — Map (db m17215) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Governor Yeardley’s Lot 1620’s |
| | George Yeardley arrived in Jamestown in 1610, was appointed captain of the guard, and eventually lieutenant governor. Later knighted and appointed governor of Virginia in 1618, he issued the Great Charter in 1619, establishing the first representative government in Virginia. In 1620, Yeardley acquired a seven-and-a-quarter-acre lot extending east from this location. A 1625 muster roll listed the members of Yeardley’s large household: Yeardley; his wife Lady Temperance Yeardley; their three . . . — Map (db m17027) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — V-41 — Governor’s Land |
| | Situated near Jamestown, Governor’s Land originally was a 3,000-acre tract encompassing open fields between the James River and Powhatan Creek. The Virginia Company of London set the parcel aside in 1618 to seat tenants who worked the land, giving half the profits to maintain the office of the governor. Deputy Governor Samuel Argall had already established the private settlement of Argall’s Town in these environs in 1617. Virginia governors also leased the property to others. Colonial leaders . . . — Map (db m2438) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — W 36 — Green Spring |
| | On this road, five miles south, is Green Spring, home of Governor Sir William Berkeley. Bacon the Rebel occupied it in 1676. Cornwallis, after moving from Williamsburg by this road on July 4, 1781, was attacked by Lafayette near Green Spring on July 6, 1781. Anthony Wayne was the hero of this fight. — Map (db m20810) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — V-42 — Green Spring Road |
| | The 17th century road to Green Spring, home of Governor Sir William Berkeley, was the eastern part of the Great Road, the earliest-developed English thoroughfare in Virginia. The Great Road ran from Jamestown Island toward the falls of the James River. The road was an important thoroughfare used to transport goods and forward communitcations between settlements. Originally, the Green Spring Road followed close to the James River, linking Jamestown to Green Spring. On 6 July 1781, the . . . — Map (db m2441) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — History of Fort Magruder |
| | On May 4th, 1862 Union Division’s of Generals Hooker, Hancock, and “Baldy” Smith encountered units of the Southern Army east of Williamsburg. When the Confederate Army Commander General Joseph E. Johnston became aware of the engagement, he sent Colonel John B. Magruder’s command to occupy and defend a line of earthen fortifications which had been built during the spring of 1861. Fort Magruder, as it became known, dominated the center of a line of 14 smaller earthworks, known as . . . — Map (db m15716) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — V 47 — Hot Water / Centerville |
| | Royal Governor William Berkeley, owner of nearby Green Spring Plantation, purchased the land here by 1652, then known as Hot Water. After Berkeley's death, the Hot Water tract passed to the Ludwell and Lee families. William Ludwell Lee inherited the property in 1796 and died in 1803. Lee's will specified that his slaves be freed when they reached the age of 18. They were allowed to live on the property for ten years at no charge and "comfortable houses" were to be built upon the tract for them. . . . — Map (db m23614) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — In Memory of Early Settlers |
| | To the glory of God and in grateful memory of those early settlers, the founders of this Nation who died at Jamestown during the first perilous years of the colony. Their bodies lie along the ridge beyond this cross, in the earliest known burial ground of the English in America. “These are they which came out of great tribulation.” Revelation VII:VIV Erected by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. 1957 — Map (db m11377) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Inside a Home |
| | All that was left of this home was the foundation of a fireplace and two rows of stains in the soil. The house was built on wood posts sunk directly into the ground. Changes in the color of the soil show where the holes were dug to sink the posts. The placement of the posts indicated a house about 30 by 15 feet. Further shadows told the size of the posts – eight inches across – though the wood itself was gone. — Map (db m17358) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Interpreting Jamestown |
| | In 1934, the National Park Service acquired 1,500 acres of Jamestown Island, including New Towne. Since then, the NPS has used different methods to tell visitors about the town. After archaeologists unearthed numerous structures with brick foundations and cellars, they left the excavations open for visitors to see. Because reconstruction might damage fragile archaeological evidence and no one could say for sure what the original buildings looked like, they were not re-built on site. When the . . . — Map (db m17211) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Iron and Industry |
| | The raw materials for the smelting of iron were all found here: lime from oyster shells, bog ore from the swamp, charcoal from burned trees. A circular kiln, 10 feet across and lined with baked clay, sat over a pit with an air vent to the surface. Metal objects and bits of worked iron suggest a forge nearby. — Map (db m17218) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Jackson Home 1620s |
| | Jackson the smith was at work in his shop . . . Minutes of the General Court, 1623 Protection was of the utmost importance in the early years of Virginia. Gunsmiths like Jamestown resident, assemblyman, and churchwarden John Jackson, were invaluable members of the community. Fine artifacts like window glass, an ivory cribbage board, and curtain rings discovered here, on the site of Jackson’s house, indicate that he and his family enjoyed a high standard of living. Jackson appears . . . — Map (db m17212) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — James Fort Site 1607 – 1624 |
| | You are about to enter the site of 1607 James Fort, the heart of the first, permanent English settlement in North America. The sections of log walls stand above archaeological remains of the original palisades. The walls enclosed about one acre, in a triangular-shaped fortification. Right here, on May 13, 1607, Englishmen planted the roots of what became the United States of America. — Map (db m11470) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — James River |
| | Indians knew this as the Powhatan River, the colonists renamed it in honor of their sovereign, James I. It is one of Virginia's longest and broadest rivers. Rising in the Appalachians it flows eastward, often soil laden, 340 miles to the Chesapeake Bay. Its mouth is the world famous Hampton Roads. — Map (db m31087) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — V-44 — Jamestown |
| | Nearby to the east is Jamestown, the original site of the first permanent English colony in North America. On 14 May 1607, a group of just over 100 men and boys recruited by the Virginia Company of London came ashore and estblished a settlement at Jamestown Island. They constructed a palisaded fort there within the territory of the Paspahegh Indians, who with other Virginia Indians had frequent contact with the English. In 1619 the first English representative legislative body in North America . . . — Map (db m2443) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Jamestown — National Historic Site |
| | This part of old “James Towne” has been owned and preserved since 1893 by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. Founded May 13, 1607, “James Towne” was the first permanent English settlement in America. It saw the beginning of many of the nation’s institutions, including representative government. It was the Capital of Virginia until 1699. The APVA grounds and the Jamestown section of Colonial National Historical Park embrace all of Jamestown . . . — Map (db m10262) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Jamestown |
| | Across the swamp lies Jamestown Island. Powhatan Creek below you, takes its name from the Indian Chief. To the right is Glasshouse Point, place of early glassmaking and later a part of the suburb of "James Cittie". — Map (db m30733) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Jamestown Island |
| | The woodland and marsh beyond the water is Jamestown Island, a pear-shape area of some 1,500 acres, being about 2½ miles in length. It is separated from the mainland by Back Creek. In more recent times the wide mouth of this creek, which you see here, has been called the Thorofare. — Map (db m31077) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — W-38 — Jamestown Road |
| | The ancient road that linked Jamestown, the original colonial capital, with Middle Plantation(later Williamsburg) followed a meandering course. It departed from Jamestown Island and then turned northeast, crossing Powhatan and Mill Creeks. As it approached Middle Plantation, it traversed a branch of College Creek that by the mid-17th century was dammed to form Rick Neck plantation’s millpond, today’s Lake Matoaka. Improvements to Jamestown Road, completed in time for the Jamestown . . . — Map (db m2446) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Jamestown Tercentenary Monument |
| | East Side of Monument:
Virginia Company of London Chartered April 10, 1606 Founded Jamestown and sustained Virginia 1607 – 1624
North Side of Monument:
Jamestown The first permanent colony of the English people. The birthplace of Virginia and of the United States May 13, 1607
North Side Base:
“Lastly and chiefly the way to prosper and achieve good success is to make yourselves all of one mind for the good of your country and your own, and to serve and fear . . . — Map (db m11467) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Jamestown’s Churches |
| | The First and Second Churches Captain John Smith reported that the first church services were held outdoors “under an awning (which was an old sail)” fastened to three or four trees. Shortly thereafter the colonists built the first church inside James Fort. Smith said it was “a homely thing like a barn set on cratchetts, covered with rafts, sedge and earth.” This church burned in January 1608, and was replaced by a second church, similar to the first. The Third . . . — Map (db m17053) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — W 44 — Magruder’s Defenses |
| | Here is a redoubt in the line of Confederate defenses, built across the James-York Peninsula in 1861-62 by General John B. Magruder. — Map (db m10540) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — W-51 — Martin's Hundred |
| | This plantation was allocated to the London-based Society of Martin's Hundred by 1618 and was later assigned 21,500 acres. It was initially settled in 1620 around Wolstenholme Town, its administrative center, located near the James River. Archaeologists discovered the town site in 1977. They also located the graves of several people who died during the 22 March 1622 Indian attacks on English settlements coordinated by Chief Opechancanough, when 78 colonists here - half the plantation's . . . — Map (db m9495) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — W-52 — Martin's Hundred Church |
| | The first Martin's Hundred Parish church was probably built at Wolstenholme Town, an early 17th-century settlement that was located a mile southeast of here. None of the structures excavated there have been identified as a church; it may have been in a portion of the town that has been lost to erosion. A second parish church was built about 1630. Martin's Hundred Parish was incorporated into Yorkhampton Parish in York County in 1712, and the Martin's Hundred Church may have been abanodned then. . . . — Map (db m9497) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — May-Hartwell Site 1660-1699 |
| | Evidence from wills, deeds, land plats, patents, and court cases helps to identify structures excavated by archaeologists. When historians digitalized two 17th-century land plats and superimposed them on a modern map of Jamestown, they matched a framed structure that stood here, the home of William May in the 1660s and Henry Hartwell after 1688. Land records also revealed a pattern of landownership common in Virginia. Many colonists, particularly government officials, invested in town lots . . . — Map (db m17310) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Neck of Land — near "James Citty" |
| | This area, like a peninsula and bounded on three sides by a marsh, is just across Back River from Jamestown Island. In 1625 there were a number of houses and 25 people living here. The settlement had close community ties to “James Citty” and sent representatives to the General Assembly there. — Map (db m31073) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — W 28 — Olive Branch Christian Church |
| | In 1833 the founders of Olive Branch Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) met for worship at Hill Pleasant Farm. By 1835, the congregation had built a brick church on land donated by Dr. Charles M. Hubbard and Mary Henley. During the Civil War, Union soldiers occupied the church; they reportedly slept in the gallery and stabled their horses in the sanctuary. The congregation worshiped in the Farthing house until 1866, when the church was restored to usable condition. With that exception, . . . — Map (db m23598) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Oyster Shells to Mortar |
| | Brick, lime, and pottery kilns operated throughout Jamestown. A small paved pit here, filled with oyster shells and moistened lime, marked a kiln where mortar or plaster was made. Different pits produced varying qualities of mortar and plaster. These different mortars in turn helped to identify structures built at the same time and from the same pit. — Map (db m17314) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — W 37 — Peninsula Campaign |
| | During the Peninsula Campaign of 1862, both Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan had their armies west toward Richmond on this road. Johnston evacuated Yorktown on 3-4 May and withdrew up the Peninsula, with McClellan in pursuit. On 5 May, two Federal divisions clashed with the Confederate rear guard east of Williamsburg in a bloody but indecisive battle. Johnston’s army continued its march west and on 6-7 May eluded McClellan’s forces at Etham’s Landing . . . — Map (db m10118) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Pitch and Tar Swamp |
| | To the north, Jamestown Island is ringed with slow moving water and a marsh of reeds, cypress, and pine. One of the first industries attempted at Jamestown was the extraction of pitch and tar from the pine trees in this swampy area. Pitch, tar, and the pine trees themselves were used for shipbuilding. — Map (db m17219) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — V-45 — Pocahontas |
| | Matoaka, nicknamed Pocahontas (“mischievous one”), the daughter of Powhatan, was born about 1597. She served as an emissary for her father and came to Jamestown often in 1608. In 1613, Samuel Argall kidnapped Pocahontas while she visited the Patawomecks on the Potomac River. Argall hoped to exchange her for English prisoners and brought her to Jamestown. During lengthy negotiations, Pocahontas married John Rolfe in 1614, credited with developing Virginia’s first marketable tobacco . . . — Map (db m2448) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Pocahontas |
| | Erected in 1922, this statue by William Ordway Partridge, honors Pocahontas, the favorite daughter of Paramount Chief Wahunsenacawh (better known as Powhatan), ruler of the Powhatan Paramount Chiefdom. Pocahontas was born around 1595, probably at Werowocomoco, 15 miles from Jamestown. In 1608, she made frequent and welcome visits to Jamestown, often bringing gifts of food from her father. Captain John Smith believed she saved his life twice during the colony’s first years. In April of 1613, . . . — Map (db m11371) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — W 42 — Quarterpath Road |
| | James Bray owned land nearby in Middle Plantation by the 1650s, and Quarterpath Road probably began as a horse path to one of Bray’s quarters or farm units. Over the years, the road was improved; it extended to Col. Lewis Burwell’s landing on the James River by the early eighteenth century. As Williamsburg grew, Quarterpath Road became one of the principal routes by which travelers and trade goods were brought into the colonial capital. — Map (db m10542) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Real Estate |
| | Early records tell of a land sale in 1636 being these 500 acres with “all howses...gardens, orchards, tenements.” The property passed from Thomas Crompe “of the Neck of Land” to Gershon Buck son of the Reverend Richard Buck who ministered for more than a decade at Jamestown. — Map (db m31075) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Robert Hunt — 1606 - 1907 |
| | To the glory of God and in memory of the Reverend Robert Hunt, Presbyter. appointed by the Church of England, minister of the colony which established the English Church and English civilization at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, his people, members of the colony, left this testimony concerning him. He was an honest religious and courageous divine. He preferred the service of God in so good a voyage to every thought of ease at home. He endured every privation, yet none ever heard him repine. . . . — Map (db m17023) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Row Houses |
| | Several Jamestown families lived in row houses. This row of three houses was occupied at least from 1560 through 1720. Elaborate ironwork found here suggested that the row was handsomely furnished. Perhaps the row was home to the government officials and merchants who prospered in the colony’s capital. A great number of pipestems and wine bottle fragments suggest that in later years, the row might have housed its own tavern, or “ordinary.” A wit of the day recorded “about a . . . — Map (db m17114) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — V 440 — Samuel H. Yonge, Civil Engineer (1843-1935) |
| | Near this location in 1901, Samuel H. Yongee, a civil engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, spearheaded the design and construction of a seawall/revetment that halted the rapid erosion and loss into the James River of the most-historic part of Jamestown Island. His efforts saved large portions of the island including Jamestown Fort, making possible continued significant archaeological finds at Jamestown. Yonge located, unearthed, and published many of his findings on the island. . . . — Map (db m11445) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Sealing of the Magna Carta |
| | This live oak dedicated on June 15, 1965, commemorates the 750th Anniversary of the Sealing of Magna Carta on June 15, 1215. Out of these roots have sprung great liberties of man, great principles of law. The Magna Carta Commission of Virginia — Map (db m17051) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — V 42-a — Sir William Berkeley |
| | Oxford-educated, Sir William Berkeley (1605-1677) was governor of Virginia from 1641 to 1652 and from 1660 to 1677, holding office longer than any other governor of Virginia, colonial or modern. Under his leadership, Virginia changed from a colonial outpost to a center of agriculture and commerce. His creation of the bicameral General Assembly helped establish the origins of American political self-rule. Nathaniel Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 threatened Berkeley's legacy. After Bacon suddenly died . . . — Map (db m23613) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — W 34 — Six-Mile Ordinary |
| | Six-Mile Ordinary, a popular 18th-century tavern also known as Allen's for its proprietor Isham Allen, stood six miles from Williamsburg. On 1 July 1774, a group of free holders congregated there and drafted the James City Resolves not to import British goods. Two years later, they gathered again to declare their support for American Independence. On 21 April 1781, Col. James Innes notified the governor that 500 British infantrymen, 50 horses, and 4 pieces artillery had come ashore at Burwell's . . . — Map (db m20805) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — W 35 — Spencer's Ordinary |
| | On this road, four miles south, the action of Spencer's Ordinary was fought, June 24, 1781, between detachments from Lafayette's and Cornwallis's armies. — Map (db m20807) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Statehouse Foundations |
| | The Virginia General Assembly is the oldest representative legislature in the Western Hemisphere. Meeting for the first time in July 1619, it gathered in the “most convenient place we could finde to sitt in … the Quire of the churche.” Thereafter the assembly and their meeting house both continued to grow until the Statehouse Complex burned in 1698. In 1643, the assembly divided into two bodies, the Council of State, appointed by the King, and the House of Burgesses, with . . . — Map (db m17042) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Swann’s Tavern 1670s |
| | . . . in ye sd Col Swanns Ordinary at James City. Minutes of the General Court, 1677 Although councilman Colonel Thomas Swann resided across the James River at his Swann Point plantation, he also leased a Jamestown tavern that provided accommodations to colonists who attended the assembly and courts, or had business in town. Documents and excavation of a large brick foundation identify this structure as possibly Col. Swann’s tavern. The elongated four-room ground floor was typical . . . — Map (db m17213) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — The Ambler House |
| | The Amber House was built by the Ambler family in the 1750s as the centerpiece of a fine plantation estate. A refined Georgian-style home, it was comparable to the elegant George Wythe House in Williamsburg. The house was burned in two wars, and after a third fire in 1895, was abandoned. — Map (db m17308) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — The Archaearium |
| | In front of you is the “Archaearium,” an archaeological museum of early Jamestown history. Its exhibits explore both the James Fort excavations and those of the site above which it sits – the Statehouse, the first building built specifically for government in English North America. This site was selected for its proximity to James Fort, with great views toward the fort that enhance visitors’ understanding of the links between the site and its artifacts. It also allows . . . — Map (db m17044) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — The English Inns of Court |
| | Presented by The English Inns of Court to commemorate the 400th Anniversary of the founding of the Colony at Jamestown in 1607 April 2007 — Map (db m17049) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — The First General Assembly of Virginia |
| | In honour of The First General Assembly of Virginia, here on the thirtieth day of July A.D. 1916. Summoned by Sir George Yeardley, Governor General of Virginia, under authority from the London Company, pursuant to the charter granted by King James I, was convened in the church at Jamestown the First General Assembly of Virginia. This Assembly, composed of the Governor, the Council of State, and two Burgesses elected by the people from each of the eleven plantations was the beginning of . . . — Map (db m15727) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — The Greate Road – An Early Highway pre-1607-1700s |
| | A few days after he arrived at Jamestown in May 1607, George Percy wrote that he and his party “espied a pathway” and were “desirous to knowe whither it would bring us.” Most likely they discovered a trail used by Paspahegh Indians in whose territory Jamestown was located. To the English, the trail became known as the Grate Road, a route that led from James Fort, across the isthmus to the west past Glasshouse Point on the mainland, and eventually to Green Spring and . . . — Map (db m17117) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — The Hunt Shrine |
| | This shrine is dedicated to the memory of the Reverend Robert Hunt (1568-1608), the first Anglican minister of the colony. — Map (db m17024) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — The Jamestown Riverfront 1630-1690 |
| | Jamestown provided the colonists with a deep-water port in a defensible location. Because shoreline settlements and camps allowed for easier transportation and a ready source of food, the colonists and Virginia Indians both lived on or near major waterways. The James River continued to be an important feature of the town even after Jamestown expanded beyond the confines of its small, palisaded fort. Throughout the 17th century, the waterfront bustled with activity. Ships with imported . . . — Map (db m17198) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — The Site of the First Landing |
| | The site of the first landing is directly ahead of you in the river. During the years since 1607, the river has eroded about 25 acres of this part of Jamestown Island. The original shoreline was close to the present edge of the river channel, somewhat more than 100 yards offshore from the seawall. “The thirteenth day {of May 1607} we came to our seating place … where our shippes doe lie so neere the shoare that they are moored to the Trees in six fathom{s of} water. The fourteenth day . . . — Map (db m11374) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — The Statehouse |
| | Just below the ground’s surface lie the original foundations of the first purpose-built statehouse at Jamestown. From the very beginning, the efforts at Jamestown were influenced by the laws and legal institutions of England. American representative government is the legacy that had its start in England. The people of early Jamestown brought not only cargo and supplies, but ideals of the rule of law, which were successfully planted in this new place. — Map (db m17046) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — These Foundations — 1607 |
| | These foundations were discovered & identified in 1903 by Samuel H. Yonge, Designer of the sea-wall & author of “The Site of “Olde Jamestowne,” 1607-1698.” ----- • ----- Placed by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, 1907. — Map (db m17041) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — This land called Tsenacomoco |
| | When the English arrived in 1607, Paramount Chief Powhatan controlled much of Tidewater Virginia. His sphere of influence included over 30 tribes and 160 towns located from the coast to the James River fall line. The colonists built Jamestown in the territory of the Paspahegh, a Powhatan tribe with its primary town six miles upriver.
Colonist William Strachey, writing in 1612, noted that in springtime some Virginia Indians “…disperse themselves in small companies and live upon such . . . — Map (db m31057) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Tradesmen on Governor Harvey’s Lot 1630s |
| | Despite the success of tobacco, the crown instructed Virginia’s governors to diversify and encourage trades in the colony. Governor Sir John Harvey supported this endeavor. During the 1630s, he employed a variety of tradesmen on this property including: potters; apothecaries; brewers; tanners; tile, lime, and brickmakers; and iron smelters. Harvey sent samples of rape seed (a source of oil), saltpeter, pot-ashes, and iron ore to England, proving that he took the instructions seriously. . . . — Map (db m17359) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — W-49 — Trebell's Landing |
| | At Trebell's Landing on the James River a mile southwest of here, the artillery and stores of the American and French Armies were located in September 1781. They were then conveyed overland some six miles to the siege lines at Yorktown. The troops disembarked at landings near Williamsburg. During the next few weeks, the allied armies under Gen. George Washington and the comte de Rochambeau besieged the British army commanded by Gen. Charles Cornwallis until he surrendered on 19 Oct. 1781, effectively ending the Revolutionary War. — Map (db m9501) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — Water and Well |
| | “ … not at all replenished with springs of fresh water … their wells brackish, ill-scented … and not grateful to the stomach.” If a well at Jamestown was sunk to the right depth, it could yield “sweet water.” Too deep a well would hit saltwater; too shallow a well would be contaminated with human waste. Fevers and “fluxes” were common. — Map (db m17202) HM |
| Virginia (James City County), Williamsburg — V 52 — Wowinchapuncke |
| | Wowinchapuncke was the chief of the Paspahegh
Indians when the English established Jamestown
in the tribe’s territory in 1607. He consistently
resisted the English intrusion, earning both
respect and hostility from Jamestown leaders.
Captured and imprisoned at Jamestown, he
escaped, and the English retaliated by killing
several Paspahegh men. After the English
destroyed a Paspahegh town in August 1610
and executed Wowinchapuncke’s wife and
children, he continued to harass the . . . — Map (db m26343) HM |
| Virginia (York County), Williamsburg — A Union Advance |
| | On May 5, 1862 Lt. George A Custer (who in 1876 made his “Last Stand” on the Little Bighorn River in Montana) led a detachment along the roadway here over “Cub Dam Creek” to occupy the Confederate work on the bluff immediately beyond. This maneuver in the Battle of Williamsburg came as the Union Army advanced toward Richmond in the Peninsular Campaign. — Map (db m25794) HM |
| Virginia (York County), Williamsburg — W 45 — Whitaker's House |
| | A mile north of the road is Whitaker's House, headquarters of General W. F. Smith, Battle of Williamsburg, May 5, 1862. — Map (db m9504) HM |
Subscribe
— Privacy Policy
— Terms of Use
— About Us
— Contact Us
HMdb.org